


Pulling The Trigger With Others' Hands

by Nigaki



Series: Wild and Soft [14]
Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Established Relationship, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Manipulation, Pre-Canon, Protective Arthur Morgan, Protective John Marston
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:47:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27767788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nigaki/pseuds/Nigaki
Summary: With the upcoming ferry job led by Dutch and fraud organized by Hosea and Arthur, Jack's fathers don't have much time for him. The boy is bored and willing to break the rules just to get Arthur and John's attention.
Relationships: John Marston/Arthur Morgan
Series: Wild and Soft [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1687138
Comments: 24
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's the first time I'm writing child's pov, hope I didn't screw up.

“Daddy, look! I drew you a picture!” Jack ran to his alpha father and tugged at his pants to get his attention. “I even watched what I was drawing like you!” 

Daddy turned from whatever he was looking at on the table where he was standing with uncle Hosea. With a smile, he looked down at Jack, patting his head gently.

“That’s nice Jack but I’ll look at it later, I’m busy with uncle Hosea.”

“Oh.” Jack lowered his hands with the picture, as well as his head, feeling disappointed. He worked so hard on that picture. 

Daddy apologized to uncle Hosea, who just waved his hand at them before focusing on some papers on the table. Jack’s father knelt in front of him and straightened his clothes while speaking softly to him.

“Why don’t you take it to our tent and lay it on a bed so I don’t miss it later and then go play with Pa?” he suggested.

Jack felt anger bubbling inside of him but he swallowed it down.

“Pa talks with uncle Dutch,” he said bitterly.

It’s been like that for a few days now. At first, when the gang got down from the mountains and stopped near Blackwater, everything was just like always, Daddy and Pa were spending a lot of time with him, very often together. But lately they were always busy. Pa worked with uncle Dutch and Micah, and Daddy was leaving every day to go to town with uncle Hosea.

And other adults weren't any better, doing their adult things, leaving to town just like Daddy and getting back drunk. The girls were often busy with chores or making each other pretty. So Jack played alone most of the time, spending time with his daddies only at evening when there wasn’t much of it left anyway because he had to go to bed shortly after they would start playing. He had them during meals too, but Daddy and Pa were talking between each other about the plans uncle Dutch and uncle Hosea had, not really listening to what Jack had to say.

It was making him sad. And angry. But mostly sad. Once or twice he almost cried because he was ignored but he refused to show it. Alphas don’t cry, at least Micah, Bill, Sean and some others were saying that, and Daddy never cried so it must be true. Jack was sure he was going to be an alpha so he couldn’t cry.

Daddy touched his cheek and stroked it gently. Jack leaned into the touch, carving for a hug. When Daddy put his other hand on his shoulder, he moved closer and was soon embraced in those arms that always felt safe.

Jack felt like crying again but he only sniffed quietly while nuzzling into his alpha father and being careful to not crumple his drawing.

Rubbing at his back, Daddy kissed his temple before releasing him. Jack wanted to hug him longer, him and Pa, and stay like that but he knew his fathers were busy and he shouldn’t bother them.

“Why don’t you find someone else to play then?” Daddy asked. “I'm sure one of the boys or girls would play with you if you ask them.”

Jack pouted. The others were fun, Javier liked to play on guitar for him, Sean was always coming up with some silly games from his country and Person had many stories about the sea to tell but Jack wanted to play with his daddies! He wanted to sit on Pa’s shoulders and have a tickle fight with Daddy. Those short times in the evening weren't enough. He loved and waited for those evenings but he wanted to play now, not later.

“Okay,” he agreed sadly. He only felt a little better when Daddy kissed his forehead before he stood up. Jack looked up lonely at him, his chest tight.

“Sorry for stealing your daddies, Jack,” uncle Hosea said with a warm smile. Even he didn’t have time to teach Jack to read like usual. Jack hated those lessons but he missed them as well right now.

“That’s okay,” he assured. “Daddy and Pa say it’s good to share,” he explained proudly, but his brief smile faded when he was soon ignored again.

“You’re raising him well, Arthur,” uncle Hosea noticed, speaking to Jack’s alpha father.

Daddy snorted. “We had to explain stealing from the rich somehow.”

Uncle Hosea chuckled and said something again but Jack didn’t listen this time. He returned to the tent and left his drawing on the bed so Daddy and Pa wouldn’t miss it later. He drew Old Boy and Boadicea, even though the mare was gone for a while now. But Daddy didn’t have a new horse yet, either riding on Old Boy or on horses of other gang members.

Jack liked to draw Boadicea too much to stop anyway. And her and Old Boy’s foals. He didn’t care that according to Pa Old Boy couldn’t have babies, for Jack, he and Boadicea were married before she had to go. They would;ve had had babies as well if they wanted. 

Bored, Jack left the tent and walked around the camp, looking for something to do. He thought about finding someone willing to play with him but everyone looked busy just like his fathers. He didn’t understand what was so interesting about work or talking about boring things when they could play with him with his wooden toys or playfight. To Jack, there was nothing better than playing, maybe hugging. And cuddling on a bed with daddies during his nap.

He hated sleeping during the day when he wanted to play but even that would’ve been better than not having anything to do. At least then Daddy or Pa would be with him, helping him fall asleep. But they were too busy even for that and Ms. Grimshaw was putting him to sleep for his nap lately, always mumbling about irresponsible parents while doing so and acting like she wasn't saying a thing. But he always heard her and was confused what she meant by that.

There was still a lot of time left for his nap, at least he thought so. He kind of wanted to have one right now, time passed faster that way. Maybe he could sleep till evening when his father wouldn’t be so busy anymore, and because he just slept, they wouldn’t be able to send him to bed, they would have to play with him all night.

Passing by loudly laughing Mac and Sean, with very unhappy Charles sitting next to them by the fire, Jack walked to the edge of the camp, knowing better than to leave it. He didn’t want to get lost.

He looked towards Blackwater in the distance, wishing he could go to town, see what was in the store, watch people in fancy clothes, see stagecoaches and ferries. Pa was constantly talking about one with uncle Dutch and Micah, Jack wanted to see it, and swim on it too. He never was on a ship.

Watching the town wasn’t as interesting as being in one, Jack quickly got bored again and sat on the ground, picking up a stone and drilling in the ground with it. He hummed to himself, not feeling any better despite doing something but he didn’t stop.

When he suddenly heard uncle Dutch laughing loudly, Jack looked back towards his tent. Pa was sitting there too and he was laughing as well, only quieter. Jack felt a sting in his chest and looked away, focusing on the ground.

Some ants appeared near the small hole he dug out, caring together a small grasshopper. Jack stood up and followed them, not paying attention where he was going. He wanted to know where ants were heading. They could lead him to their home, that would be fun. He could put a stick in the anthill, ants were always running funny because of that. And if he knew where their home was, he could kill a small bug and bring it to them to make them happy.

“Hey, kid.”

He jumped startled when he heard a voice coming from his left. Turning a little shyly, he looked at Micah sitting on the rock under a tree and cleaning his gun.

When Jack looked around, he realized they were out of the camp but not very far. He should probably go back before Daddy and Pa would start worrying.“Hi, Micah,” he greeted the alpha quietly and hunched a little. 

Micah was scary. He smelled nice sometimes but he was mean and none of Jack’s aunts and uncles liked him. Only uncle Dutch, he was always saying that Micah is great. Jack didn’t think so, Micah never played with him, not even once and he was rude to Pa, calling him names that were always making Pa growl at him. Jack didn’t like when his fathers growled and they did it a lot around Micah.

So to Jack, Micah wasn’t great or even okay.

The alpha watched him, chewing something in his mouth. Jack wasn’t sure if he could move and get back to camp on his own or if he should stay and wait for the alpha to get him there, when Micah suddenly pointed his gun at him for a moment before dropping it back into his lap. “What you doing?”

Jack shifted on his feet. “Playing.”

“With your nose in the ground?” he asked with a mean smile on his lips. Jack shrugged and looked down, his ants were long gone. “I’ve seen you running around the camp like a fart in pants for days now. Don’t you have anything to do other than getting under the feet of the adults?”

“I'm bored,” Jack admitted and looked back at Micah. Maybe the man would offer to play with him. Everyone was so busy lately but Micah, like Uncle, was rarely doing something.

“Yeah, I'm not surprised with how much your fathers are trying to please Dutch and Hosea,” Micah noticed. “They’re so busy they even forget their own god damn kid.”

That wasn’t true, Daddy and Pa remembered about him, they were still giving him food when he was hungry, tucking him into bed and reading him bedtime stories. They just were too busy to play during the day. Today they were even both in the camp! Maybe they would play with him later.

But he was bored now and he wanted to play with someone. His wooden soldiers stopped being fun, same with the other few toys he had.

“Will you play with me, Micah?” he asked eagerly and with a hopeful smile. Daddy and Pa wouldn’t like it but maybe Micah wasn’t so bad and he was just shy like Charles, that’s why he never played with Jack before.

The alpha snorted and it hurt Jack a little, making his smile fall. “Not a chance, kid,” he refused. “I have better things to do than babysitting you.” Jack hung his head and turned around to walk away. “But maybe I could give you something to play with.”

Jack turned back with another smile and rushed to Micah, excited. “Really?”

Micah smiled back. “Sure, kid.” Jack stopped right in front of him, eagerly waiting for a new toy to play. “How old are you, boy?”

Jack looked at his hands, splaying his fingers wide. Daddy and Pa taught him how to count to five. “Four,” he said proudly and showed Micah the amount of fingers.

Micah’s next smile made Jack feel strange, with warmth spreading through his whole body. “You ever shot a gun, kid?”

Jack’s eyes grew wide and he shook his head. “Daddy and Pa say I can’t touch guns.”

Ever since he remembered they never let him touch one, under no circumstances, not even when he was once helping Pa clean his gun, he was only allowed to hand him the rag and oil. The closest to a gun he was whenever he hugged one of his fathers and their holsters were on their hips. 

Touching a gun was always so tempting, he was seeing them everywhere, on every one of his many uncles and some aunts too. They often laid on the ground or propped against a wagon as well. It would be easy to touch one, even just graze his fingers over it but he was a good boy and he didn’t want to make his fathers angry. He was never left alone with a gun unattended anyway, whenever he saw one, there was always someone nearby to caught him trying to touch it if he ever tried. 

“Really?” Micah asked, surprised. Jack nodded, swaying restlessly on his heels. “Four years old and they never teach you?”

“Guns are dangerous,” Jack stated. That’s why he wasn’t allowed to play with them.

Micah snorted and twirled the gun he had on his finger. Jack looked at it impressed, he wished he could do that too. “Only if you don’t know how to use them,” the man said, still smiling. Jack didn’t know why he felt weird seeing this smile. Smiles were nice, he liked smiling and when people smiled at him. But when Micah was doing it, it didn’t feel that good. “As much as it pains me to say this, your daddies are good with them. I bet you would be too. Don’t you want to be a gunslinger like your daddies?”

Jack nodded eagerly. He wanted it so bad! Daddy and Pa were the best gunslingers, he just knew they were! And he wanted to be as good as them since he wasn’t good at anything. But only grownups could be gunslingers. He never saw a kid like him being one, even in the books.

“But I'm too small,” he noticed sadly, dropping his head. 

“I learned how to shoot a gun when I was your age.”

Hope sparked inside of Jack. He looked up at the alpha again.

“Really?”

Micah waved his finger at him, showing him to come closer. Jack wasn't sure he wanted to be this close but he stepped towards the alpha who grabbed him unexpectedly and yanked him toward himself. Jack stumbled a little but Micah didn’t let him fall and sat him down next to himself, keeping him close with an arm wrapped around him. Jack liked hugging, especially hugging with his fathers, but this felt uncomfortable and he wanted out. He shifted to slip away but Micah only held him tighter and leaned closer to him.

“My daddy took me and my brother hunting,” he said in a whisper, as if he was telling a secret. Jack felt happy that Micah wanted to share a secret with him. Ignoring how uncomfortable he felt, he listened closely to the alpha. “I killed a bear that day, kid.”

Jack opened his mouth in awe.

“Bears are big,” he whispered back.

Micah grinned. “They are, especially grizzlies, not them tiny black ones.”

“We saw a grizzly bear once.”

It was scary despite the bear being far away. Jack remembered being in his Pa’s arms and Daddy holding binoculars for him so he could see the bear better. It was eating a fish at the top of a small waterfall. 

“I'm sure that’s a fascinating story, you can tell me some other time tho.” Micah shook Jack gently and playfully, like his fathers liked to do when asking him questions. “So what do you say? Wanna play with the gun?”

Jack looked towards the rest of the camp where his fathers were.

“Daddy and Pa will be mad.”

“Nonsense, they’ll be proud their son is starting to become like them,” Micah assured him. Jack looked up at him, uncertain. “Just think, Jack, if you learn how to shoot, you’ll be able to go on jobs with them. No more staying in the camp and getting bored, they’ll be taking you to shoot all the time, don’t you want that? Spend time with your daddies?”

He wanted it so badly. Daddy and Pa always tried to spend some time with him, if not both, then at least one of them was staying in the camp with him. But if he could help them and uncle Dutch with work, they could be spending all the time together!

“Yeah,” he admitted shyly. He was hesitant to agree, his fathers’ words about never touching a gun were still echoing in his head. “But…”

“No buts, that’s the way to do it,” Micah interrupted him, sending him a reassuring smile. “Grab a gun, learn how to shoot it and impress your folks,” the alpha encouraged him. 

Jack nodded, excited and glad that Micah wanted to help him. The man wasn’t so bad as everyone was saying. A mean person wouldn’t have helped Jack stop being bored. Maybe they could be friends too! He bet Micah was lonely with everyone avoiding him so much.

He was just going to jump from the rock to start practicing when he remembered something important.

“But I don’t know how to use a gun,” he pointed out. Maybe Micah could show him?

“Come on, Jack.” Micah patted him on the arm. “You’re obviously a future alpha, we have that in our blood,” he said, clenching fingers on his gun. Jack watched it fascinated, it looked so nice with red pictures on it, nothing like his fathers’ plain revolvers. “Even your omega daddy’s gentle nature can’t ruin that because he uses a gun as well.” Jack nodded. He heard Daddy, uncle Dutch and uncle Hosea saying that Pa was very talented with guns. “You was born to wield a gun, kid and you’re practically an adult already!” Jack puffed out his chest proudly. “I bet one day you’re going to be better than your daddies.”

“Daddy and Pa are the best.”

Jack heard stories of famous gunslingers told around the fire or read to him by his father, like Black Belle or Landon Ricketts but no one was better than his Daddy and Pa, he was sure of that.

Micah rolled his eyes for some reason. “They ain’t better than me, but yeah, they’re good,” he agreed. Jack smiled. “And every little boy wants to be like their daddies, right?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed eagerly.

“So get them guns and don’t worry about a thing!” Micah ruffled Jack’s hair, causing him to giggle. “Once you have it in your hands, you’ll know what to do.” The man turned Jack to face him and holding him by the arm, leaned down to look into his eyes. “Trust me.”

“Okay,” Jack nodded, smiling wide at how much Micah believed in him.

Without thinking, he reached for the gun in Micah’s hand and got slapped right away.

“Hey!” Jack whimpered in pain and withdrew his palm, holding it close to his chest while Micah looked around frantically. That hurt. When Micah was satisfied with whatever he was looking for, he stared down at Jack again, his eyes sharp, very different than just a moment ago when they sparkled and looked warm and kind. “Don’t touch my guns, kid. I’m sure your daddies have some spare in your tent. Just go and grab it,” he ordered and gently but urgently pushed Jack off the rock they were sitting on. “Just do it discreetly, we don’t want them to find out too early about this, don’t we?”

“Why?” Jack questioned.

“To surprise them, Jack,” Micah explained, the smile was back on his face. “You take the gun, practice a little and then impress your daddies by shooting bottles or something else with perfect accuracy. They’ll be so proud of you but if they see you with a gun now, they’ll get scared. Parents are like that, irrational, overprotective. Especially omegas.” Jack didn’t mind being protected. He liked feeling safe, especially after a bad dream. Daddy and Pa were always cuddling with him then so he could sleep again. But apart from protecting him, they were also forbidding him many fun things, like playing with the fire, getting close to horses or wandering out of the camp alone and it was so annoying. He wished he could do all those things but they were too dangerous, like playing with guns. But Micah was saying it was safe and that he was ready to learn how to use them. “If you don’t take matters into your own hands, they won’t let you shoot till you’re twenty.”

“Twenty is far from four?”

“Very far.”

“I don’t want to wait that long!” he protested. Maybe Micah was right and if he could show Daddy and Pa that he could use a gun, they would let him do other dangerous things as well.

Micah chuckled and gently patted him on the cheek. “So let’s keep it a secret between you and me, huh? Let’s not worry your parents.” The alpha offered his hand and Jack eagerly shook it, feeling so grown up doing so! “When you become decent I can even teach you a thing or two.”

“Okay,” he agreed.

“Good boy.”

Feeling warm and fuzzy inside, Jack ran away to his tent. He couldn’t wait to make Daddy and Pa proud of him! They would be so happy that he was finally good at something since he couldn’t read very well yet. His fathers kept saying it was fine, that he had time to learn, they didn’t learn how to read till they were much older than him but he wanted to do good and make them and uncle Hosea proud after reading a full sentence without stuttering or mistake.

Jack reached the main area of the camp, it was noon so everyone was awake by now and walked around. His Daddy was still with uncle Hosea and Pa with uncle Dutch, busy and not paying him any attention.

Sad but even more determined, Jack sneaked into their tent and got to the chest standing under one of the walls where he knew his father were keeping their additional guns and groaned when he found it locked.

Frustrated, he sat on the ground and looked around. There was a holster hanging from the chair but even from the ground he could tell it was empty. He couldn’t see a gun anywhere else. He should’ve stayed with Micah and asked him to use his guns, how was he supposed to learn and make Daddy and Pa proud if he couldn’t get a gun?

Jack lifted himself from the ground and walked to another chest in the tent. This one was open and filled with all sorts of clothes. He started digging through it, tossing clothes on the ground, hoping to find a gun hidden at the very bottom. Like a treasure.

“What are you looking for, little man?”

Jack turned quickly to Davey who stood in the entrance to a tent, watching him confused.

“I’m playing,” he answered innocently, scared that he was caught.

But then Davey smiled and moved his eyes from him to the mess he made. “I don’t think your fathers will like this game,” he said and walked away.

Jack followed him with his eyes, focusing on the holster on the man’s hip. He let out a frustrated sigh and got back to searching. Why was finding a gun so hard? They were usually lying around everywhere but now he couldn’t find even one.

He was losing hope when his fingers touched something cold and metallic, right at the bottom. Eagerly, he tossed away the rest of the clothes in his way and looked with big eyes at the revolver hidden under them.

Jack stared at it for a long time, scared to touch it. Micah said it was fine but his fathers always said he shouldn’t touch it under any circumstances. He didn’t want to make them mad. But he was also really curious, guns seemed so fun when he was read to about gun fights and he really wanted to learn how to use one to impress Daddy and Pa.

He looked around to make sure Davey or someone else wasn’t watching him and then nervously reached for the gun. His hand was shaking when he grabbed it and pulled out, observing it from all sides.

It was scary and exciting to hold a gun, even though he couldn’t understand what was so dangerous about it, it didn’t look like it, it simply looked old, with stains and scratches on the metal and the wooden handle. It was a little heavy and he needed to grab it with both hands to hold it firmly.

Another rush of excitement ran through his body when he realized he probably looked like a real gunslinger right now. He only missed a hat and bandanas like the one that daddies had.

Moving the gun back to one hand, Jack held it near his hip, imagining he was pulling it out of his holster. He liked to play like that with daddies and sometimes with other gang members as well. They would stand in front of each other and pull out imaginary guns to see who would do it faster. Daddy and Pa could do it really fast, moving their hands in a blink of an eye but he was often faster! And his fathers were always falling to the ground in a silly way after, clutching their bellies or chests and saying he got them good. It was always funny. 

Micah was right, he was a born gunslinger. Confidently, he tried to lift his hand as fast as possible but with a real thing it was harder than during playing. He was really slow and he almost dropped the gun to the ground. Not giving up this easily, he tried again, trying to stand like his fathers.

He felt really strong and big in that moment, as if he was getting ready for a real duel. It was much more fun than an imaginary gun! He wished Daddy and Pa could see him now, they would be so proud! But he had to keep it a secret for now, just like Micah said. He needed to practice his speed first.

When another attempt was a failure, he just gave up and grabbed the gun with both hands again, aiming it at Daddy’s flower in a jar. After a quick decision, he aimed to the right, far away from the flower or the picture of their family. He liked both and didn’t want to break it accidently. 

Almost tripping on the clothes scattered around the ground, Jack took a few steps back, stopping under the tent’s wall and finally settling on aiming at the mirror his daddies used for shaving. It was big and easy to hit with a bullet. Putting a tongue between his teeth in concentration, Jack held the gun as firmly as he could and pressed the trigger.

Nothing happened, no loud bang, the mirror was whole still. Confused, Jack looked at the revolver and turned it to peek inside the barrel. It looked empty, where were bullets?

He tried to remember where Pa put them after he cleaned his gun but it was so long ago he didn’t really remember. Frustrated once again, he shook the gun, hoping that bullets would fall out. But nothing happened, he only almost dropped it again.

After looking inside the barrel again, Jack started checking every part of the revolver until finally something at the top moved when he tugged at it. Sure that this was all he missed to start shooting, he aimed the revolver one more time and pulled a trigger.

Still nothing, only the round thing in the middle moved a bit. He didn’t know what he was doing wrong, using a gun was complicated but he was still having fun just holding it and imagining that he was in a fight with O’Driscolls. Or with bounty hunters!

He jumped around the clothes, pointing the revolver at random things, pretending it was enemies. “Bang!” he shouted after pulling the trigger every time and then giggled, even though he still couldn’t shoot. At one point he tried to put a holster around his hips but it was too big and it just fell to the floor. But his Pa’s hat stayed on his head and even covered his eyes while he ran around the small tent, fighting imaginary enemies and having the time of his life. He was sure he was getting better and faster.

Daddy and Pa were going to be so proud once he showed them what he learned today.


	2. Chapter 2

With a sigh, Arthur pulled out a cigarette from his pants pocket and looked proudly at his and Hosea’s plan. In just a few days they were going to be rich, very much so. If everything would go according to plan of course, but surprisingly he had a good feeling about it. It was easy money and with what the others were going to get from the ferry heist, their gang would finally be able to get back west where it belonged and settle on some big ranch.

He wanted it for a while now. After all those years living as an outlaw, he wanted to finally find some peace, give Jack a normal life instead the one on the road, rest. Maybe he and John would think about extending their family as well. Without any danger waiting for them behind every corner and with their own house, they could allow themselves to have a second child without feeling guilty for bringing a kid to not the safest environment like they occasionally did with Jack.

But to get all of that, they needed to cross the last obstacle. His and Hosea’s fraud was relatively safe, even if they would get caught lying, he doubted anyone would shoot at them the first thing. It was the ferry heist he was more worried about.

It was going to be full of cash in gold and that meant a lot of guards being careful. The big group Dutch was going to take with him would be easily noticeable, they would have to work quickly. That’s why they were planning the whole job so much, John talked about nothing else but this, he was very excited about it and Arthur really hoped it was going to go well. John wasn’t new to dangerous jobs but Arthur couldn’t help but worry about his mate. Hopefully it would only end with worry.

“So, about Dutch’s plan…”

Before he could finish and find out what Hosea thought about Dutch’s plan, since he never said anything about it, the older alpha waved his hand dismissively.

“Ah! Don’t remind me.”

Arthur smirked. “We never talked about it, do you not like it?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s a good plan and I'm sure John, Charles, Callanders, Sean and Javier will do great as always,” Hosea explained and added after a second. “Well, maybe not Sean,” he corrected himself. They both chuckled but then Hosea’s expression got dark. “I just don’t think Dutch choose the right people for this. John, Charles and Javier are great but Sean, Mac and Micah? Too hotheaded.”

“Well, Dutch can’t exactly exclude Micah, it was his plan,” Arthur pointed out and took a drag of his cigarette. He could see where Hosea’s worries were coming from. He was worried about people involved in the job as well. To be honest, the one with the most common sense was probably Charles, then Javier. Even John was capable of doing stupid despite his experience, sometimes he was just too reckless. “Maybe he won’t be so bad.”

He worked with Micah two or three times. It was true that he was hotheaded, he was always going for a shootout but he was good at it, Arthur had to give him that.

“Maybe,” Hosea agreed but didn’t sound convinced. “I can’t tell if he’s just impulsive or crazy on purpose.”

“Yeah me neither,” Arthur admitted. “I worked with him too little, John had more jobs with him.” John hated most of them. Micah treated him like a child that always needs to be told what to do next. “Said he’s good with guns but tends to take more risky routes, like he goes crazy at the opportunity of killing someone. And is an asshole.”

“Happens to the best of us.” Hosea sighed tiredly, looking towards Dutch’s tent. Arthur followed with his gaze but instead of on the leader, he focused on John sitting with him and no doubt discussing the ferry heist. Arthur smiled seeing his mate happy with planning. “I hope this amount of reckless people won’t jeopardize Dutch’s plan, who is a little hotheaded himself.”

Arthur had to agree. Dutch could be as hot headed as Sean. But Sean has an excuse, he was young and stupid, what was happening to Dutch sometimes, Arthur couldn’t tell.

“I’m sure it will be fine.”

He tried to reassure Hosea but he knew already it wouldn’t really work. Hosea was getting more worried with age and they just had to deal with it.

“I would feel better if you joined them,” Hosea admitted.

“I could,” he offered right away. He would feel better knowing he was there to keep an eye on everyone too.

“Oh no, no, no, we have our thing,” Hosea refused immediately and smiled at him. “Dutch will be alright without you. He has John, Davey can keep Mac in check and with Charles and Javier being there, Sean and Micah shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Thank goodness, because I really want to fool some folks with you, Hosea.” They observed as Dutch patted John on the arm and then the omega stood up, leaving towards their family tent. “I'm getting too old for intense shooting. Now I understand why you took care of the more intellectual part of robberies.”

“Are you calling me too weak for hard work, boy?” Hosea asked, glaring at him.

With a smile and cigarette dangling from his lips, Arthur raised his hands in surrender. “Not at all, old man,” he chuckled.

Hosea’s lips twitched but before they could form a smile on his face, they both heard a panicked voice.

“Put that thing away slowly right now, Jack!”

“John?!” Arthur shouted in worry.

Almost running through the camp, he and Hosea took off towards the younger man. John was standing in the entrance to the tent, frozen in place. When Arthur got next to him, wanting to ask what happened, he froze too after seeing what caused his mate to panic.

Jack stood in the middle of the tent, surrounded by clothes thrown on the ground and with a gun lying next to his feet, clearly dropped by him. Under the brim of John’s hat, the boy’s eyes were open wide, full of fear and confusion, his lower lip trembling slightly.

Of all the things Arthur expected to see, this wasn’t one of them. Question rushed through his head, some on repeat, like how the hell Jack got the gun in his hands?! What was he doing with it? Next to him, John was probably asking himself the same questions, tense from shock so much he almost looked like a statue in the corner of Arthur’s eye.

He didn’t see Jack holding the gun like his mate, but seeing it on the ground, so close to his little boy still made Arthur stop breathing for a moment before his instincts kicked in.

He and John rushed towards Jack at the same time. Arthur didn’t really know what he should grab first, Jack or the gun. He had no idea what John’s plan was either but somehow they managed to not get in each other’s way. Once Arthur was close enough, he grabbed Jack by the shoulder and pulled him towards himself before lifting him safely into his arms, the hat falling from the boy’s head.

“I got him!” Arthur assured, not necessary, because John was already bending for the gun.

He took it with surprisingly steady hands considering the situation. Keeping his finger away from the trigger and pointing the barrel at the ground, far away from Jack or anyone else, the omega proceeded to open the cylinder.

With this much of a commotion, it wasn’t surprising when other gang members joined Hosea to check what was happening. Arthur heard them behind himself but didn’t turn around to check who came by, he was more focused on his son who trembled in his arms, silent tears running down his cheeks. He tried soothing the boy with gentle words and soft touch, while also keeping an eye on John to know how close they were to losing their son.

They were always so careful, making sure every one of their guns was locked. They repeated, over and over again, to other gang members that they needed to be careful with guns too, to never leave them just lying around. It was risky in terms of a sudden attack, but Jack’s safety was more important and everyone agreed. They were telling him to never touch a gun and he listened but he was also a child. A curious, innocent child who would no doubt break the rules if he had an opportunity.

And he did. Somehow they weren’t careful enough and their son got his hands on a gun. The gun that could’ve been loaded. Even if with one bullet, it could’ve still ended badly. They could’ve rushed towards their tent after hearing a shot and a scream of pain and that thought was making Arthur want to throw up.

“Shit, it’s the broken one,” John said after trying a few times to open the cylinder and failing. No matter how much force he used, the gun didn’t budge.

Arthur felt a wave of relief rolling through his whole body and almost making him collapse under Jack’s weight. But then he frowned. Why did they have a broken gun? That explained why it wasn’t locked with other ones but why did they keep it?

And then he remembered how John brought it to the camp some time ago, before the winter, after killing a few O’Driscolls he stumbled upon. He thought it was a decent gun back then but after bringing it to camp, it turned out it was broken. They barely opened the cylinder last time to pull out the bullets. It must’ve gone rusty during winter and broke completely.

Thank god but it still got them probably the biggest scare of their lives. John’s hands finally began to shake now that he didn’t need to be careful with the gun. He tossed it carelessly on the ground and ran both hands through his hair, his eyes still wide and scared as he released a breath of relief and his body lost some of its tension.

“What’s going on?” someone behind them asked.

Arthur turned and looked at the small gathering of their friends wanting to see what happened. There was Javier, who asked the question, Davey, Molly, Lenny and of course Hosea. 

“Jack almost got hurt,” he explained, gently rocking his son in his arms. The boy was clutching to him, still crying.

Everyone looked at the scene in front of them with worried expressions. Arthur was glad they were here but he had a suspicion everyone’s presence was making Jack more scared. The boy actually jumped in his arms and hid his face in Arthur’s neck when John cursed loudly.

“God damn it!” he shouted, quickly realizing what it had done. His expression softened the very next second and he rushed towards Arthur and their son, reaching a shaking hand towards the boy to comfort him. “How did he… Jack, why did you take this?” he asked, gently rubbing the boy’s back to get him to turn around. “You know you’re not supposed to.”

After those words, Jack started crying even harder, with all the hiccupped breath and snouts. Unsure, he turned his head towards John, whose heart definitely broke at the sight he witnessed.

“I'm sorry,” the boy cried. Arthur tired to sooth him, calm him at least a little, but the gentle touch on the boy’s hair wasn’t really working. Neither did John’s who cupped Jack’s face in his hands, wiping the tears with his thumbs as they kept appearing. “I just wanted to learn how to shoot. To go on jobs with you so we can be always together.”

Now Arthur's heart broke. And if anything was still intact in John’s, it certainly crumbled all the way now. Jack just wanted them to pay attention to him.

Arthur and John shared a pained look. They didn’t think their absence was affecting Jack so much. He was constantly surrounded by people after all, he couldn’t complain about not having anyone to play with. But he wanted his daddies not anyone else and they failed him because of some stupid jobs that didn’t need that much attention from them in the first place.

But after the winter, when the gang laid low most of the time, they were both desperate for a bigger job and unfortunately, they both found one at the same time. Usually one of them always tried to stay away from jobs if the other had something big going on, that way Jack always had at least one of his fathers taking care of him.

Not this time. But Jack was so big already they were sure he would understand. Apparently he wasn’t big enough. Not to understand that sometimes his fathers would have less time for him, nor that he really shouldn’t touch a gun.

They could’ve only blamed themselves if something would’ve happened. Arthur didn’t even want to think about it. About his little boy getting shot because he wanted to impress them.

“That’s sweet, darling, but you’re much too little for this yet,” Arthur told him, wiping the tears from the boy’s face. It was no use, the new ones were coming too fast.

“Micah said I was big enough,” Jack protested.

Arthur and John froze again, too stunned to say anything. 

“Micah?” John finally repeated, practically choking out the name, shocked.

Jack looked at them with a face that he always had whenever he said something he wasn’t supposed to. His lips parted in an ‘o’ shape and his eyes filled with guilt.

“It was going to be a surprise!” he cried even harder.

Arthur and John looked at each other again. There was the beginning of a fire in John’s eyes, Arthur could feel it inside himself too, bubbling deep down in his stomach. What the hell was Micah thinking?!

“Micah told you to play with guns in secret?” John asked, keeping his voice as calm as possible.

That fucking bastard. Arthur wanted to growl in anger but that wasn't the best moment. Not when Jack was still clearly upset by all of this.

“He said you would be proud,” the boys explained quietly, clearly picking up the tension between his fathers and trying to hide again, making himself as small as possible in Arthur's arms.

John didn’t even try to contain his anger at this point, he fumed with it, his chest rising with heavy breaths.

“I'm going to kill him,” he growled through gritted teeth, determined as he looked at Arthur. “Hold him, Arthur, I’ll find the bastard.”

“You think I will leave you to it? I’m coming with you.” There was no way he was going to just stay here. He wanted a chance to punch Micah too.

John nodded, not protesting, even looking a bit happy that Arthur was joining him. Arthur turned to others still standing at the entrance to the tent. “Molly, can you hold him?”

He handed Jack to the woman. There was no need for the boy to witness what was about to happen. Besides, Arthur was going to need his hands free.

“Of course, Arthur.”

Molly took Jack carefully, the boy twisting in her grip as he was being moved.

“Daddy, Pa!” he sobbed, reaching his hands for Arthur when he finally managed to pry off the boy’s tiny hands from his clothes. John moved closer right away, soothing their son.

“It’s okay, Jack, we’ll be back soon,” he promised, stroking Jack’s cheek and wiping his tears again before he left the tent with Arthur. The others went with them, no doubt as angry as them after Micah’s recklessness, or deliberate behavior. Only Molly stayed inside the tent, comforting still crying Jack. 

“Hush, child, nothing bad happened,” she talked softly to him. “It’s alright now.”

It was clear that Micah wasn’t in a general area of the camp. Arthur only saw him earlier, talking with Dutch but later the alpha disappeared. But he had to be close, because Baylock was still with other horses. He was going to regret not leaving after talking with Jack.

“Micah!” John shouted, his voice full with fury. Even his march was angry, his feet stomping with every step.

“Micah, get your ass here right now!” Arthur yelled after his mate, looking around to spot the bastard.

Their yells got the attention of others who were in the camp at the moment but didn’t notice the previous commotion, but apart from Dutch and Charles no one else joined. 

“Micah!” John repeated himself, sounding more furious than just a second ago. The longer they couldn’t find that maggot and beat him to a pulp, the angrier they were becoming.

Just as Arthur was imagining himself wrapping his hands around Micah’s throat and strangling the bastard, Micah appeared from behind some tree a little far from the camp’s edge. His bored expression made the anger in Arthur boil even harder.

The moment they spotted him, their legs took them right to him. Micah watched them completely oblivious.

“What the hell are you screaming for?”

John got to the alpha first and didn’t even answer his question, just pulled his hand back and punched Micah so hard the alpha fell to the ground with a yell, blood already spilling from his nose.

“You hit me!” Micah shouted, gently holding his nose, blood leaving him like from a slaughtered pig.

“What the hell was you thinking?!” John yelled at him, standing above him, with Arthur by his side. The others stopped behind them.

“What was I…” Micah mumbled under his nose. “What the hell are YOU doing right now?!”

The man tried to get up, but he barely propped himself on one arm before Arthur stepped closer and placed a hard kick on his stomach. Micah dropped to the ground again, groaning. 

“Stay on the ground or I’ll make sure you won’t get up ever again,” he threatened, watching the rat trying to crawl away.

Micah spit some blood on the ground and looked up at them with anger. “The hell is your problem, cowpoke?”

“You tried to kill our son!”

“What hell are you talking about, omega?!” the man yelled back, glaring at John. “I didn’t lay a finger on that boy!”

“But you gave him a gun!” Arthur reminded him. If that snake was going to lie himself out of this…

Micah spat again and wiped his bloodied mouth. “That’s what this fuss is about?” he asked nonchalantly.

“You call it a fuss?!” Arthur roared and jumped at him in a second, noticing with the corner of his eye that John wasn’t far behind.

Micah tried to crawl again but he was too slow. With a growl, Arthur got to the man and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, hoisting him up to land a strong punch on his already broken nose. The alpha yelled in pain and Arthur loved that sound, he wanted to hear it again, as well as the crunching noise of other bones breaking under his fist.

He raised his hand, ready to strike again when he was suddenly grabbed by it and by the arm, and then tugged back and off Micah. He fought the hold of whoever tried to pry him away, he kicked and snarled but they weren’t letting go and soon another pair of hands got him in a hand lock around his throat. Tight one, but not enough to suffocate him, just to keep him from hurting Micah further.

He wanted to hurt him, fury flowed through his body instead of blood and he just wanted to see that bastard give his last breath.

“He could’ve died you sonofabitch!” he heard John yelling.

Arthur looked briefly at his mate, noticing he was held back by Dutch and Hosea. He too tried to get away, a constant snarl escaping his mouth through gritted teeth.

“And you think I tried to kill him?” Micah asked, tears of pain running down his face and mixing with the blood on his chin. “Who do you think I am?”

“A dangerous lunatic!” John replied. “For giving a child a gun!”

“Now hold on, Marston!” the alpha protested. “I didn’t give him the gun, I just suggested he was big enough to start learning using one, that’s all!”

“And you thought it’s a good idea?!” Arthur asked. What was this idiot thinking?!

“What is wrong with you?” he heard Davey ask. Arthur looked around then, as much as the hold on his neck allowed him. Callander was one of the people that held him, the others were Lenny on the other side of him and Charles, who was the one keeping him in a hand lock. 

“I didn’t try to hurt him!” Micah excused himself but Arthur didn’t believe him at all. No one was this stupid to encourage the child to play with guns. “I just wanted to teach him something! How was I supposed to know he would be so stupid to not be careful?”

“He’s four!” John shouted, a mixture of anger and unbelieve in his voice. “He’s naïve and trusty and curious. You expected from him to be careful and responsible when even god damn grownups play with guns like idiots sometimes?!”

“He would put a hand into the fire if you told him it was okay!” Arthur added. “It’s our responsibility as adults to keep him from harm. Yours too!”

“It’s not my kid!”

“Then why the hell you decided you’ll teach him something?!” John asked. “Leave raising Jack to us! You just got to keep him safe! You see him on the edge of a cliff, you pull him back, not tell him to come even closer to see what’s down there!”

They never expected the gang to raise Jack for them, they didn’t even have to babysit occasionally if they didn't feel like it, all they needed to do was keep the boy safe and Micah couldn’t even do that!

“You’re too soft on him, I just tried to help. When I was his age…”

“I don’t care what you’ve been doing his age!” Arthur almost got away from the hold his friends had on him. He was so angry right now, he never felt such a need for blood like right now. “Or what you would do with your own kid, god help any kid to have you as a father.” He really hoped Micah would never spread his seed enough to create a new human and decide to raise him or her. “He’s our kid, mine and John's, you got no say in how we’re supposed to raise him and when to teach him things!”

“And you certainly have no say in giving him a gun to play, you sick bastard!” John added. He was shaking when Arthur looked at him, the anger in him was just too intense and he couldn’t even release it because Dutch and Hosea weren't going to let go of him. “Or telling him to lie to us! He didn’t even come to us to ask if it was okay to learn how to shoot because you told him to keep it a secret!”

That was the worst part, because they would’ve accepted Micah suggesting to teach Jack how to use a gun. They would still think it’s stupid and irresponsible but at least they would’ve know. But they didn’t and if the gun had been loaded, they could’ve lost their son. Because Micah felt like being a daddy today.

“I did no such thing!” the bastard denied right away. Arthur was surprised he didn’t deny talking about guns with Jack.

“You calling my son a liar?” Arthur snarled at him. Jack was better than that.

Micah had the audacity to roll his eyes at him. “He’s a kid, of course he’s lying to avoid punishment!”

“The only one deserving a punishment is you, you moron!” John yelled with a growl at the edge of his voice. Micah looked at him surprised and a little bit scared. “You’re lucky we didn’t get you alone!”

“Shit, didn’t know omegas can have red eyes as well,” the alpha whispered.

Arthur took a glance at John and there they were, eyes red as blood, with so much fury burning inside them. He never saw such eyes in an omega too and despite the situation, Arthur couldn’t help but shiver in excitement because of how feral his mate looked right now, ready to kill to protect their child.

“Alright, try calming yourself everyone,” Dutch suggested, carefully letting go of John. When the omega didn’t attack right away, Hosea released him too and Davey, Lenny and Charles did the same to Arthur. For a second, he considered jumping at Micah again, thrown one last punch at his stupid face or clasping his teeth around the bastard’s throat, but instead he just walked to John, with the others hovering over them in worry, hands raised to grab and stop them again from murdering Micah. Dutch got between them and that rat, playing a peacemaker like a good leader should. Arthur was angry at him anyway for not letting them end this fool. “Maybe Jack really did exaggerate a little.”

“I know my son, Dutch,” John spoke lowely, his eyes still red and following Micah who finally stood up, holding both his kicked stomach and punched nose.

“Children aren’t always truthful, I know from the experience of raising two teenagers,” Dutch noticed. “Thankfully nothing happened and Jack is safe, that’s the most important thing.”

“You’re not going to do anything to this bastard?” Arthur asked, turning to the leader. He agreed, Jack being safe after all was what was important the most, but Micah still deserved to get much worse than what he got for putting him in harm's way.

“I think he got enough, that nose looks broken.”

“Feels broken too,” Micah mumbled. “Damn, you two have a good punch. I almost can’t tell who is an omega in this relationship.”

Arthur and John both growled at him. He had no right to speak, he said enough to Jack today. Someone should sew his mouth shut.

“He deserves much more,” John spoke what they both thought. “He almost killed our son, Dutch. If it was a working and loaded gun…”

Arthur felt the bile rising up his throat again.

“I don’t think that’s what happened,” Dutch pointed out. “We only know what Jack and Micah told us and I believe Micah meant no harm and honestly wanted to help.”

“What person encourages a child to use a gun, Dutch?” Arthur growled at the leader.

“An idiot apparently.”

“I’m definitely one, can’t deny,” Micah admitted, spreading his arms innocently. “But I'm not a child killer.”

Everything was possible with that bastard. He was a lunatic, he proved that much already. But Dutch was agreeing with this justification and he nodded at the other alpha.

“Micah made a mistake, that’s all,” Dutch decided. “It could’ve ended bad but it didn’t and he got punished for it already. You made your share of mistakes regarding Jack too, boys.”

“We never did anything that stupid,” John pointed out. As if not always knowing how to handle their first child was as bad as giving a four years old a gun!

“The point is we all make mistakes. If there was evidence that Micah did it on purpose, hoping Jack would get hurt or killed, I would kill him myself, you know that,” Dutch reminded, giving them a sympathetic look. “I love Jack, I would never let anyone get away with harming him. Micah meant no harm.”

“So what, we’re supposed to forgive him now, just like that?” Arthur asked, pointing at Micah who just stood there. He didn’t even apologize for what he did because he thought he did no wrong.

“Just don’t kill each other, that’s all I'm asking.” Dutch turned to John. “And don’t let it affect our heist, John.”

John growled and tuned from Dutch, walking towards Micah. Everyone tensed, including Micah himself but surprisingly, John didn’t punch him, which Arthur would do, he just got into his face and snarled at him. “I see you near my son one more time I’ll kill you! I’ll rip your balls off and feed them to you, am I clear?!”

“Jesus Christ, you’re all acting like he blew his head off!” Micah replied, offended. “He’s fine!”

“No thanks to you!” Arthur said, stepping closer and getting into Micah’s space as well. The alpha tried to step away but John grabbed him by the shoulder and didn’t let him. “You’re lucky he got an old and broken gun! I’m warning you, Micah, stay away from my family!” he snarled, pleased when Micah lowered his gaze submissively. “Because next time you’ll end with something more than a broken nose!”

The submission didn’t last long. “You’re all so ungrateful.”

“Micah, shut up!” Dutch ordered him. He needed to shout to make the alpha hear his voice over growls from Arthur and John. “Don’t piss them off more.”

“I thought you’re on my side, Dutch.”

“I believe you didn’t try to hurt the boy but you still did wrong.” At least Dutch wasn’t treating Micah like he was completely innocent. “You should be ashamed of yourself for being so careless. We all care for that boy, we don’t put him in harm’s way and if you want to help around him, ask his fathers first. They know better how to take care of him.”

“I know, I'm sorry, alright?” Micah said, first to Dutch, and then turned to them. “I’m sorry, Morgan, Marston. I didn’t mean to get him in trouble,” he apologized, not sounding very apologetic, he actually sounded annoyed but that would have to do. “You happy?”

Arthur stopped his growling and huffed, taking a step back. “Our warnings still stand,” he warned the other alpha. “You stay away from Jack, don’t even talk to him, we clear?”

“Yes, Alpha Morgan.”

“Now get the hell out of our sight.” John snarled. “Go to Reverend to help you with that nose.”

Micah rolled his eyes but still nodded. “Yes, Omega Marston.”

He walked away, looking back at them as if afraid they would attack him from behind. They would if others weren't there. Dutch and Hosea retreated as well, with both of them giving Arthur and John pats on the back, but the rest of the group stayed to talk.

“Christ, what an idiot,” Lenny said with disgust and shook his head.

“Who the hell gives a gun to a child?” Davey asked, taking a cigarette that Lenny offered him.

“Eh, it happens,” Javier pointed out. “But you don’t just give it and walk away, that’s just asking for the child to get hurt.”

Their friend got into discussion when it was a proper time to teach your child how to shoot. Arthur and John didn’t want to think about that even in terms of much older Jack. As of right now, they never wanted to see him with any gun ever again.

“You okay?” Charles asked them. He was the only one who didn’t join the discussion, probably because he didn’t like to talk much in the first place.

“No,” John answered and took a deep breath. “I need to hold my baby.”

Well said, John, Arthur thought and after smiling gratefully at Charles, he followed his mate back to their tent where Molly was waiting with Jack. The moment the boy saw them, he started wiggling in Molly’s hold so she set him down and he ran towards them.

“Daddy, Pa!” he shouted, distressed.

John crouched and opened his arms to catch Jack as the boy threw himself at the omega. Their son clutched to John tightly, crying as the omega talked gently to him to calm the boy down. Arthur stopped next to them and placed his hand on his son’s head, stroking it in a soothing way.

“It’s okay, Jack,” John said softly and looked up at Molly who gave them a small smile. “Thank you, Molly.”

“My pleasure, John,” she replied and walked around them to give them some space. “He’s really shaken, be gentle with him.”

“We will, thank you again,” Arthur said and closed the flaps after her.

In the meantime, John moved himself and Jack onto the bed where he sat down with the boy in his lap. Jack was starting to calm down, crying a little less but he was still scared and shaking in John’s hold. Seeing him like that kept breaking Arthur's heart. No matter how many times he saw their son crying, it was always as painful as the first time. You just can’t get used to that.

John held him close, rubbing his back and pressing the boy’s face into his neck where he could smell the calming scent of his father better. Arthur sat next to them and wrapped his arm around them, so John could smell him too and he John. They all needed some calming scenting.

John leaned into him and purred briefly to show his appreciation. Arthur purred back and pried open Jack’s hand that clutched to John’s vest to take it in his and hold gently. The boy squeezed his fingers tight right away, letting out a pained whine and then sniffling again.

“Are you angry at me?” Jack whispered eventually into John’s neck after many painful minutes of crying.

“No, of course not,” John assured, kissing their son’s head. “We’re not angry. But I’m afraid you still did wrong and we need to do something about it.”

They couldn’t be angry at Jack for trusting someone that belonged to the gang. After all they taught him themselves that he was safe here and that gang members are his family. They were angry at Micah, at themselves but not at Jack. He was just being a child, too small to know better.

“I'm sorry, Pa,” Jack sniffled and looked up at John with tears in his eyes. “I just wanted to be like you.”

“We understand.” Arthur pulled his hand from Jack’s grip and used it to wipe the tears from the boy's face. “But you’re too young yet. Your Pa and I, we started young but not that young.” Even such a sick bastard like Arthur's father wasn’t stupid enough to give such a smile child like Jack a gun. “And we still don’t want you to start as early as we. We don’t want you to need to start this early.” If they could help it, their son would never have to pick up a gun at eleven and kill another human like John. Or later for that matter. “Guns aren’t meant for children, we forbid them for a reason. We just want to keep you safe and happy, you understand?”

Jack nodded, snuggled into John but he nuzzled into Arthur's hand when he stroked the boy’s cheek. “Yes. I’m sorry.”

“We know you are, buddy and we are not angry.” John adjusted Jack so he was straddling his lap. “Come here, hug your old man tight, that’s right. Shh, no harm done.”

John rocked Jack gently and stroked his back, repeating that everything was okay in a hush tone. The boy clung to him like his life depended on it, still crying a bit but it was dying down with every second till all they could hear was some ragged breath and occasional sniffling.

Arthur held them both through this, nuzzling his nose into John's cheek to offer him so comfort and get one himself as well as the omega returned the gesture before hugging Jack close again and hiding his nose in the boy’s hair.

It seemed like forever before any of them moved, Jack being the first, turning his head so he could rest his cheek on John’s shoulder.

“Did Micah get in trouble?” he asked, sounding guilty.

“Yeah,” John sighed in response, never stopping stroking Jack’s back. The touch finally seemed to work because the boy sagged against his Pa, tired down from all the crying. “He shouldn’t have told you to play with a gun.”

Jack sniffled. “He just wanted to help.”

Arthur smiled at his son sadly.

“You’re too young to understand but sometimes people that seem like they want to help you, don’t want that at all,” he explained as simply as he could.

He wished he didn’t have to, Jack’s innocence was one of the brightest parts of their life, they didn’t want him to lose it, not this early when he still should be a child. But for his own safety, he needed to understand that not every person he would meet in the future was going to be friendly. Some will try to hurt him, use him.

The trust Jack had for everyone was precious but so, so dangerous at the same time. Arthur and John thought there was no need to teach him to be suspicious of people just yet, not when he wasn't allowed to leave camp on his own and was surrounded only by his family that would protect him for now. 

They were wrong. 

Jack sat a little bit straighter, wiping his wet nose and eyes. “What do you mean?” he asked, looking curiously at both of them.

John looked down at him, helping clean his face since Jack did such a messy job he only made it worse. Arthur offered his handkerchief that John gladly took, gently cleaning their son’s face as well as answering his question. “Some people will try to hurt you by pretending they care about you.”

Jack grimaced a little after every wipe John did on his face. “Why do that?”

“To gain something,” John replied, folding the handkerchief in two and holding it to Jack’s nose so the boy could blow it. “For fun. Because they hate you. Out of spite.”

“What’s that?”

“Envy.”

“Envy is bad,” Jack decided after a short consideration.

“It is,” John confirmed with a fond smile and tossed the handkerchief on the ground in the corner.

Jack settled against John again, squirming a lot till he found the perfect spot on his lap. “Micah did that? Does he hate me?” he asked gloomily.

Arthur and John shared a look. To them, Micah hated everyone but himself. He wasn't the kind of person that likes others, he could respect them but not like them. That’s how he was deciding whether someone had any value for him. Jack, because of being a child, and so young at that, had none to him. But they didn’t want to tell that to the young boy, he would certainly take it to himself and think there was something wrong with him. Jack wanted everyone to like him. 

“No,” Arthur denied, hating that he had to lie to his own son but it was for his own good. Maybe he wasn’t even lying. Maybe Micah really didn’t mean no harm and just was an idiot. They weren't there to hear his conversation with Jack and the alpha never acted strange around Arthur and John’s son, he mostly avoided him, sometimes being irritated with Jack asking him questions or crying but to try to hurt him over that? It seemed unlikely. Micah had to know what would happen to him if he tried. “He’s just…

“Hard to be around,” John helped him find the right way to explain it.

Arthur nodded and after smiling gratefully at his mate, he looked at Jack. “Exactly. So don’t worry, I don’t think he likes anyone but his horse and guns,” he joked, making Jack smile, at least a little. “Not every adult is like that, you can certainly trust other people in the gang but stay away from Micah, alright?” Arthur brushed a strand of hair from Jack’s forehead. It was getting a bit long, a quick scissor work was to be necessary. “At least till we make sure we can trust him. No need to bother him.”

Jack nodded, disappointed. “He’s so lonely, I thought I could be his friend.”

He always wanted to be friends with everyone. Whenever someone else joined the gang, he was shyly asking Arthur or John to introduce him to the newcomer so he could befriend them.

John sighed sadly, taking Jack’s face in his hands and lifting it. “You’re too good for this gang, boy,” he said and kissed their son’s forehead.

Arthur leaned closer and bumped their nose together, smiling fondly at the boy. “So pure and innocent, surrounded by a bunch of degenerates.”

This wasn’t a place to raise children, despite what they thought when Jack was still in John’s belly, only a vague idea of a child then, a naïve belief that they could raise him in such an environment.

When Arthur moved away, Jack rubbed at his tickled nose and frowned at them, confused. “I don’t understand.”

“You will once you’re older.”

The boy perked up. “Just like I can learn to shoot when I'm older?”

Arthur felt the fear grab him by the throat again and John tensing next to him. Of course Jack wasn’t scared by today as much as them.

“Once you are, sure,” Arthur replied after glancing at John to check if he agreed.

But John was okay with it, they would have to teach Jack one day, even if just for his own protection, not for him to help them during robberies like he imagined. But not today, not even in the closest future.

“How old?”

Arthur and John communicated through stares once again. “We’ll wait till you’re sixteen, how about that?” John asked.

Jack frowned, no doubt trying to figure out how many years he would still have to wait. He didn’t like it. “That’s so far.”

Arthur ruffled the boy’s hair and leaned down to kiss him on the top of his head. “You’ll thank us later.”

“Like tomorrow?”

Arthur smiled down at his son. “Sure, like tomorrow,” he agreed, feeling himself relax once again.

Next to him, John’s body was losing the tension too. They looked at each other, there were still signs of stress present on the omega’s face but he smiled despite that and Arthur smiled back. They were okay, Jack was okay, the scare was over.

“Do I have to go to sleep early for being bad?” Jack asked, oblivious to all the stress he unintentionally caused his fathers.

“You weren't bad, you just did something you shouldn’t,” John assured the boy quickly. “As for your punishment…” Jack made himself a bit smaller after the omega mentioned that. “We’ll figure something tomorrow. Today you’re a free man still.”

Jack giggled after the playful tickle John gave him on the ribs. Hearing him laugh after a day like that brought Arthur and John comfort.

“I guess we deserve punishment too,” Arthur noted. It was their fault after all. “If that wasn’t one.”

John nodded. “Certainly felt like one,” he muttered and protectively hugged Jack closer. The boy didn’t protest, just hugged back.

“We shouldn’t have ignored you so much,” Arthur continued, looking at Jack tucked under John’s chin. He leaned closer so the boy could see him better. “We’re sorry, Jack, we didn’t mean to hurt you that way.”

“It’s okay, I know you’re busy,” Jack answered in a sad voice.

“That’s no excuse, we should’ve paid more attention to you but we got consumed by our jobs so much you felt the need to impress us to get our attention.” The guilt was obvious in John’s voice when he explained this to Jack. “We’re deeply sorry. Will you forgive us?”

“Okay,” the boy replied without hesitation.

John let out a sudden laugh. “What a relief.”

Jack giggled again. It was so good to hear him laugh, to see his cheeks red from smiling and not crying. “You’re silly, Pa,” he stated, nuzzling closer to his father.

Arthur looked fondly at his mate. “He is, isn’t he?”

John looked back at him and huffed but he was quickly distracted from his irritation by Jack.

“I love you,” the boy mumbled into the omega’s chest, clinging to him desperately.

John tightened his grip on Jack, careful not to hurt him as he hugged back, rocking the boy gently.

“We love you too, Jackie,” he swore, his voice shaky. Jack almost didn’t want to let go of him when John moved him but when the boy realized he was being moved to his Daddy’s lap, he eagerly hugged Arthur too. 

“So much,” Arthur added and kissed the top of the boy’s head, hugging him close to his body and wanting nothing more but to keep him here where he was safe. “We’re so happy you’re okay.”

John hugged them both, not willing to be separated from his family just yet. They stayed like that for a little while, Arthur and John purring with happy Jack nuzzled safely between them.

“Do you have to go back to uncle Dutch and uncle Hosea soon?” he asked shyly at some point.

Arthur and John moved away slightly to look at the boy.

“No,” Arthur shook his head. “No uncle Dutch or Hosea for today.”

Both alphas could handle planning alone for today. Or for tomorrow. He and John had other responsibilities to take care of.

“How about we go out, huh?” John suggested, looking first at Arthur and then at Jack who beamed at them. “It’s been a while since you left the camp. We could spend some time together, just the three of us.”

“Yes!” the boy shouted excited.

He wasn’t the only one, Arthur liked that idea very much too. Spending time with family was exactly what all three of them needed, not only because of what happened today. Unlike their son, Arthur and John were leaving the camp often but never to have fun. It was about time they left not for a job but to relax. It was a great way to make it up to Jack for ignoring him for so long too.

“I’ll get Old Boy ready and borrow myself a horse,” Arthur decided, putting Jack on the ground to stand up. The boy was jumping in place, vibrating with excitement. “You two pack what else we may need.”

“You want to help me, Jack?” John asked. Jack nodded eagerly. “What will we need?”

With a smile, Arthur left his family for now and headed towards the main fire where most of the gang was seated. He passed by Strauss wagon on the way there where Reverend was taking care of Micah whose shirt on the front was all red from the blood. Arthur was surprised to see them still not being done but Swanson was probably passed out drunk when Micah got to him and sobered out enough just now to take care of any injuries.

“That must’ve been quite a punch, Mr. Bell,” Reverend said, gently examining the bloody nose.

Micah winced when one of Swanson’s fingers pressed too hardly. “Marston started,” he murmured, sounding embarrassed. He cleared his throat before continuing. “Morgan made it worse.”

Arthur snorted, satisfied that this bastard was hurt. It served him right for putting Jack in harm's way.

Micah heard him snort and glared when he noticed Arthur smirking. “Hurry up, will you!” he snapped at Reverend. “Give me some morphine, it hurts like hell!”

“Patience, Mr. Bell.”

With a smirk still on his lips, Arthur finally reached the fire. Callanders, Sean, Charles and Javier were all sitting there, Arthur could borrow a horse from any of them, they were all great horses and liked him well enough to let him ride them. Unlike The Count or Brown Jack. But Dutch would never let anyone ride his Arabian and Bill was in Blackwater with Uncle and some of the girls anyway.

Last time he needed to ride somewhere Mac lent him his Andalusian so Arthur didn’t want to go to him again. His friends watched him curiously when he approached Javier.

“Hey, Javier. Mind If I borrow Boaz for a while?”

Boaz was a good horse but most importantly calm, perfect for riding with a little child like Jack.

“Not at all, amigo,” Javier replied and smiled knowingly. “Going to town? To drink perhaps?”

Drink sounded good right now but that would have to wait till evening when they would go back and get Jack to bed.

“Nah, John and I are taking Jack for a little family trip. We neglected him lately, that’s why he decided to play with Micah of all people.”

“That's a good idea, I think. For you both and Jack. Want me to get Boaz ready?”

“Nah, I will take care of him and Old Boy. Thank you, Javier.”

“Have fun you all.”

After exchanging nods with the others, Arthur returned to his tent for his and John’s saddles. Boaz didn’t protest when someone other than his rider started working on him, the gelding calmly let himself be saddled and then Arthur moved to Old Boy, the horse welcoming him happily.

He was just finishing when John and Jack joined him, the omega carrying a bag with everything they would need for the trip.

“Boaz!” Jack exclaimed and ran to the gelding. Boaz turned his head to the boy and sniffed him, making the boy giggle. “Hi, Boaz.”

“Here.” John rummaged through Old Boy’s saddle bags and pulled out a sugar cube he gave to Jack. “Remember to not stick out your fingers.”

Jack nodded and offered Boaz the sugar cube, laughing when the horse soft lips tickled his palm. Old Boy got his treat as well so he wouldn’t be jealous and after putting the bag on his rump, John mounted the horse, leaving some space in the saddle.

“Alright, up you go.” Arthur lifted their son and sat him in the saddle in front of John. “Comfortable?”

“Mhm.” A huge grin appeared on Jack’s face and he looked up at John with shining eyes as the omega wrapped an arm around him to keep him secure in the saddle. “Where are we going?”

“How about a river?” Arthur suggested and climbed Boaz, taking the reins in a light grip.

“Yes!” Jack threw his hands up, excited.

“Hold tight and let’s go then,” John decided and went first, Old Boy trotting out of the camp with Arthur and Boaz right behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I enjoy hurting Micah. 
> 
> Next chapter, tooth-rotting family fluff. Love daddy Morston so much! ❤️


	3. Chapter 3

John held Jack a little bit tighter than usual as they left the camp, heading north towards Montana River. He knew his son was safe but he was still shaken by what happened. They were so close to losing their little boy because of this idiot Micah. What was this lunatic thinking? That giving a gun to a child is a good idea? That nothing wrong would happen? Nothing did but only because of John and Arthur’s prevention. If they weren’t so paranoid about leaving guns around, Jack could’ve taken a hold of a loaded gun and seriously injured himself. Or even died.

Micah was a moron thinking it would be okay just because he was taught how to shoot early. If that even was true.

Or him tricking Jack wasn’t deliberate. This man was insane, John wouldn’t put it past him to try to murder a innocent child. But why exactly? Jack wasn’t bothering him, what would he get by killing or harming him?

John shook his head and looked down at the Jack sitting in front of him, safe in his arms and grinning happily because of the trip. That was not a time to think about Micah and whatever was in his head. This was their family time, thinking about Micah and how he deserved more than two punches to the face could only spoil it for them, especially for Jack, if John was to growl randomly from all the anger in him.

Jack didn’t seem to notice how tense he was, unlike Arthur, who was now riding next to them and watched John with worry. John smiled at him reassuringly. He was fine, really. Maybe not perfect but once they got to the river and relax, he would feel like nothing even happened just a couple of minutes ago.

“Look, Pa! Wild horses!” Jack shouted unexpectedly, pointing to their right.

John turned and noticed a herd of six horses grazing far from the road.

“I see them, Jack,” he said to the boy and turned to Arthur, who was watching the horses as well. “You should go there and grab yourself a new horse.”

“Nah, I’m good for now,” Arthur answered. “I’ll catch one or buy myself a horse once we go back west after we rob the city.”

“You can’t keep borrowing my horse.”

“Sure I can,” he answered with confidence and flashed John a grin.

John huffed. “Bastard.” Arthur’s grin only widened while Jack giggled. “What are you laughing at, little man?” John asked him, playfully tickling his tummy.

Jack giggled more and wiggled in the saddle. If it wasn’t for John holding him, the boy would’ve fallen.

“You’re funny,” the boy simply replied.

John smiled at him fondly. “We are, ain’t we?” He tickled the boy again, making him shriek. “Adults are so silly.”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed eagerly, making them both smile. “I never want to grow up,” he decided with all the determination of a four years old.

“You won’t, huh?” Arthur asked with a chuckle. “It will be a little hard to do but you try, son.”

“I only want to grow up if I’ll have a younger brother or sister,” he declared, playing with the loosely hanging reins in front of him. “If I never grow up they’ll be older than me and I want to be an older brother!”

John didn’t really know what to say to that to not get Jack’s hopes up for having a sibling or maybe two when it wasn’t certain if it was on the table. He and Arthur haven’t talked about having more children but John had to admit he wasn’t opposed to that idea. He kind of missed being pregnant. Not being useless in that state, all the pain that comes with it, especially during the birth itself, or other difficulties, but he remembered the excitement they felt during the first pregnancy, awaiting the arrival of their first child. It was a feeling that couldn’t be replaced by any other and he wanted to experience it again.

And having a second child now that he wasn’t as scared of parenthood like at the beginning was an appealing idea. It was funny how he wanted to end the first pregnancy at first and now he wanted to be pregnant again, to have another child to love and protect with all he had. Another little boy, or a girl this time, to hold, nurse and rock in his arms while humming him or her a lullaby, with Arthur sitting next to him and looking at him like at the eighth wonder of the world.

Parenthood wasn’t so bad as he thought it would be four years ago. He thought having another person, especially so innocent and vulnerable depending on him and Arthur for everything would be hard. And it was, sometimes so much he felt like giving up, but he didn’t expect so many beautiful things to come out from this. Child’s love was one of a kind and watching Jack grow up, teaching him so many things, being proud of every little thing he was doing… There was no better feeling in the world than being a father. Despite all the hardship. It was all worth it to see Jack healthy and happy, because then they were happy too. 

John had no doubt Arthur wouldn’t protest at experiencing all of that, good and bad again with another child. He knew his alpha, how fatherhood changed him and how much it meant to him. Jack had his alpha daddy wrapped around his finger. And now they were wiser and more experienced, it would be easier the second time. Still hard, but John was ready and eager to go through it again.

He and Arthur would have to talk about it soon. Maybe after robbing Blackwater and after Dutch would buy some ranch for their gang, they could try for another child. Because right now they didn’t want to bring another child into the world while still in the gang and on the road. It was hard for Jack, a second child didn’t need to suffer the same. But once settled, there would be nothing stopping them from making their family bigger.

And stopping only on two children.

“Sure, buddy,” John finally answered their son and looked at Arthur who was already staring at him. They smiled at each other and John noticed his mate’s eyes shining with anticipation.

Yeah, Arthur definitely wasn’t opposed to having another child.

The ride to the river wasn’t long, they set the camp fairly close to it to have a close source of the fresh water for themselves and horses. He and Arthur were there once already, fishing for the gang. Well, fishing was only an excuse to have sex, hidden among cattails. The point was, they knew the shore of the river already and they knew where they wouldn’t be bothered by travelers.

John led them from the road towards the little downhill where they entered the shore. They brought horses to a stop once on the sand and John settled Jack on the ground before dismounting himself. The boy already ran towards the river.

“Stay on the shore, Jack!” he reminded the boy. Sometimes in his excitement, Jack was forgetting he couldn’t swim. They were with Arthur right now, so nothing would probably happen even if the boy would fall into the water, the current wasn’t strong there and Arthur could pull him out with ease. But something like that almost happened when John was by the water alone with him once. If something happened then, he wouldn’t even have been able to save his own son.

“Yes, Pa!” the boy replied, jumping excitedly into the shallow water. The splash he made scared the ducks that were sitting on a little island in the middle of the river. Jack watched them fly away with a smile, while Arthur joined John.

“He’ll be fine,” he said to John, putting a hand on his forearm to calm him further.

John looked briefly before being back to keeping an eye on Jack. He didn’t trust the water.

“It’s water,” he reminded his alpha. “And Jack is just a kid. It wouldn’t be hard for him to get caught up in a current if he would go too far from the shore.”

“It wouldn’t be an issue if you let me teach him how to swim.”

“He’s too young. Knowing how to swim won’t help him in a strong current, you know what will help him? Staying from the water altogether. Knowing how to swim will only make him want to get into water more, putting himself into more danger.” Arthur watched him amused, lips already spreading into a wide smile. “If you don’t know how to swim, you don’t do stupid things. Like going to swim.”

“You just don’t want a four years old swimming better than you,” Arthur chuckled. “Oh, excuse me, swimming at all.”

John glared at him and growled lowly. “I don’t need swimming for living.”

“You kinda need to,” Arthur noticed. “Remember when we and Javier had to jump into the water to escape the law? You would’ve died if me and Javier didn’t keep your ass afloat.”

“You pushed me into it in the first place!”

He was in the middle of telling Arthur and Javier that they should run through the canyon and the next thing he knew he was screaming his lungs out while being carried away by the river, Javier and Arthur right after him and barely pulling him to the surface so he wouldn’t drown.

“It was either this or getting shot.”

“So you decided to kill me by drowning instead.”

Arthur snorted, moving his hand all the way up to John’s neck and grabbing it to bring him close. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said as he rested their foreheads together. John didn’t stop glaring, which was only amusing Arthur further. “I would’ve chosen a deeper river for that, not that puddle.”

Arthur laughed when John pushed him away. “You’re such a bastard, Morgan,” he growled. Sometimes he wondered how he fell in love with the alpha.

“Alright, I’m sorry,” Arthur apologized, stepping closer again. John watched him and his gentle smile, wary. The alpha stopped right in front of him and put his hands on John’s shoulders, rubbing with his thumbs at the skin that was peeking out from under John’s shirt. “You know I'm joking, right?”

John let out an amused huff. “I know you for far too long to be bothered by your teasing,” he answered, placing his hands on Arthur’s hips and inching closer. “I was never innocent either.”

“You was a brat,” Arthur noted with a smile. “Even when you stopped being a child.”

“And you was always a bastard. So we’re even.” John leaned closer and pressed their lips together for a few seconds. They tried not to show too much to Jack. The boy was most likely busy having fun and an innocent kiss wasn’t anything bad, but for a child this age it wasn’t anything pretty.

They were so close John felt Arthur’s chest rumble when he chuckled. “No wonder we fit so well,” he said dreamily. “Two annoying man children.”

John laughed in return. “Couldn’t ask for a better mate,” he admitted. He was proud that he wasn’t wrong all those years ago and they worked out just fine together.

“Me neither,” Arthur agreed and kissed him again, their lips lingering together this time.

They parted them just as Jack ran up to them, shouting with excitement.

“Daddy, Pa, look!” he exclaimed, reaching his open palm towards them. “Look what I found.”

Arthur and John let go of themselves and looked down at the stone in Jack’s hand. “Wow, that’s a one pretty stone you got there, son,” John said and crouched next to Jack. Arthur did the same so the boy didn’t have to strain his arm too much, it was already shaking.

“I found it in the river,” Jack informed them proudly, wrapping his finger tightly around the stone and bringing it close to his chest. “Maybe it’s a gem.”

“Or a magic stone, bringing luck,” Arthur suggested, ruffling Jack’s hair. Jack quickly ducked with a laugh, hiding into John’s side. “You should keep it.”

“Can I?”

“Sure.”

Jack jumped around John to hug Arthur tightly. “Thank you, Daddy!” he said happily and hugged John next. John smiled and hugged the boy back.

“How about we put it into Old Boy’s saddlebag for now?” he asked his son. “So it won’t get lost.”

“Okay,” Jack nodded and gave the stone to him. “Can we look for more lucky stones?”

“Of course we can.” After neglecting the boy for so long, John was ready to do everything with him. He didn’t even have to force himself, he always wanted to see Jack playing and being happy with the smallest things. “How about we walk a bit? See if there are prettier stones down the river? Maybe some gold? Heard people were looking around here.”

It was more in the Dakota river to be exact but for Jack, looking for a gold alone would be enough of an entertainment. 

Just like John expected, Jack’s eyes lit up at the mention of gold. “We could bring gold to uncle Dutch!” he noticed. “You wouldn’t have to work then and we could play all day!”

John smiled at the boy and shared a guilty look with Arthur. “We promise we’ll spend more time with you, boy,” John said and hugged his son again. “But yeah, uncle Dutch would be happy with the gold.” He pulled away from Jack and looked at him with a grin. “So let’s look for it, huh?”

“Yeah!” Before Jack could run away, Arthur grabbed him and stopped him. 

“Hold on a moment, mister.” He picked up the boy easily and sat him down on a nearby boulder, then crouched again in front of him. “There is nothing better than walking in the cold river barefoot.” Jack giggled and then wiggled his fingers when Arthur took off his shoes and socks. “Alright, you’re free, just remember to stick to the shore, yes?”

“Yes, Daddy!”

And Jack took off, running in front of them while they took their own shoes off and put them on the horses before following, leading their mounts by the reins.

“Stay by the shore?” John repeated with amusement. “Didn’t you say he will be fine?”

“I’m still a father, John, I’m worried even when I say I’m not,” he explained himself.

John smiled in understanding. “I’ll be still worried when he’s thirty,” John admitted, watching Jack all the time with Arthur. The boy was bending every few seconds to examine the stones laying in the river. “Hell, fifty even.”

“And you said you wouldn’t be a good father,” Arthur reminded him with a proud smile. “Look at you now, ready to help your baby even once you’re old and grey.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” John stopped him. “I said I’ll always worry for him, not that I’ll rush to help him wipe his running nose when he’ll be fifty.”

“Nah, at this point in life, he’ll be helping you with wiping,” Arthur teased with a smirk. “Wiping your wrinkled ass.”

John grimaced. “Jesus Christ, you’re disgusting, Morgan. I might just kill myself before that happens.”

He wouldn’t put Jack or any of their future children through something like that. It would be humiliating.

“Just don’t do it before I’m gone.” John raised an eyebrow at him, expecting another joke. “Don’t want to be without you.”

John snickered. “From making fun of me to being sweet on me.” He shook his head with a fond smile. “You know how to treat an omega, Morgan.”

Arthur stopped and gave him that charming smile that was always making John weak in the knees and his stomach to flip. “One is wearing my mating mark.” Arthur's eyes fell to the faint scar of his teeth on John’s neck, looking at it with admiration. “I think I can say I’m fairly good with them.”

“Or that one was simply very interested in you,” John teased and stepped closer, their chests almost touching.

“Either way, charmed him good enough, if by accident. Came onto me first.”

The purr Arthur put into those words made John shiver and lick his lips. “Did you thank him for getting through your thick skull?”

“Who’s being sweet one time and teasing the next now?” Arthur asked. John gave him a sly smile in response, that turned into one of content when Arthur gently tucked his hair behind the ear. “I’ll never thank him enough for choosing me.”

“No need to thank him,” John assured the alpha. “Just never leave and believe he’ll never leave too.”

“I’m past that by now,” Arthur promised and brought their lips together. John didn’t let him move away too quickly, wanting to pour into that kiss what he just shared through words.

But they learned by now that when you have a child, you rarely have an opportunity for being intimate.

“Daddy, Pa!” Jack shouted. He no doubt saw them kissing but didn’t react with childish disgust, too excited by his newest find, whatever it was. He ran to them with the huge grin on his face while they moved away from each other, connected only by their hands when Arthur linked their fingers together. “Look, I found another pretty stone. It’s yellow! Think it’s gold?”

“Good catch, Jack,” John told him. “But I don’t think it's gold.”

Jack pouted, disappointed. “I’ll give it to Tilly,” he decided. “She likes yellow, right?”

“She veru much does,” Arthur confirmed.

“I’ll get stones for everyone in the gang.” Jack gave them the new stone for keeping. “And gold for uncle Dutch.”

“That’s a great idea, I think they’ll love it,” Arthur agreed with him. “Just skip Micah, okay?”

John almost growled at the mention of the bastard. 

“Okay.”

Jack took off again and they followed at a slower pace.

“So, everything ready for your and Hosea’s big scam?” John asked and looked at Arthur.

“I think so,” the older man replied, smiling smugly. “Everyone is already eating from Hosea’s hand.”

“People always eat from Hosea’s hand,” John noted with a chuckle. “He could sell sand to a man in the middle of the desert.”

“That’s true,” Arthur agreed with his own chuckle. “Think we’ll do okay and join you after. If everything will go according to plan with Dutch and Micah’s plan.”

“As much as I hate it to say, Micah has a good plan,” John admitted, almost gritting his teeth when he said that. “We’ll be quick, the law won’t even notice anything is off until we’ll be already gone.”

He was very excited for this job, it was a long time since they had something big going on. During winter they tended to stay out of trouble, only robbing stagecoaches, far away from the camp at that. But no stagecoach was carrying as much money as the ferry was going to. This and money from the fraud Arthur and Hosea had ready would be enough to get the gang settled once and for all. 

No more traveling, no more fighting for their life. That was going to be the last time and then they would be free to do whatever any of them liked. Some gang members would probably leave to pursue their own life. Hopefully Micah would be one of them.

He and Arthur were going to stay with Dutch and Hosea. The two alphas were their family, they couldn’t just leave like that. And he wished they wouldn’t be the only ones to stay. At least for a little while.

Arthur grumbled something under his breath. “I hope you’re right,” he said, with worry in his voice. “It’s a big score, and without me and Hosea.”

John smirked. “You don’t have to babysit us all the time, you know?” He had to admit, Arthur’s worry was always heartwarming in some way. Sometimes he was more of a mother hen for the gang than Susan. “There’ll be plenty of us on that boat already, we’ll be fine.”

“You better be,” Arthur warned him, a glint in his eye when he looked at John. “Don’t want to explain to Jack why Pa is hurt or ain’t coming back.”

“You won’t have to,” he assured his mate. “I took part in the planning, as long as everyone will stick to their job, nothing bad will happen.”

He understood Arthur’s worry. The older man was always agitated whenever he wasn’t a part of the job and couldn’t be present to help or make sure everything would go according to the plan. It was in his nature to worry. That was one of the reasons he was such a good mate.

He would’ve no doubt been a part of Dutch’s job if he and Hosea didn’t find one for themselves a bit earlier. Having two more guns would make things easier, it was a big ferry, they were going to have a lot of ground to cover to prevent people from escaping and alarming the law.

But John had a good feeling about this job. The plan was perfect, there was nothing that could go wrong. Not with such an experienced gang. Even Sean or Bill couldn’t screw this up for them.

Arthur didn’t answer, just squeezed John’s finger a little tighter.

“Daddy, Pa, I can’t go more!” Jack complained from his spot ahead of them.

They were expecting this, the shore was blocked by rocks and the river’s current was stronger in this spot, too strong for John to allow Jack go in it. “We’re coming, buddy!” he shouted back to their son.

Jack waited at them impatient, holding his untucked shirt like a pouch, full of colorful stones he found so far. “Look how many stones I found!” he boasted with a proud grin.

“That’s a lot of stones, Jack,” Arthur admitted. “I wouldn’t find even half of that. You have a good eye.”

Jack giggled, jumping a little in place, almost causing some of the stones to fall outside his shirt. John knew that even the loss of one of them would be a huge tragedy and a reason to cry for the boy, so he nodded at Arthur’s satchel. “Why don’t we put it in Daddy’s bottomless bag?” he suggested.

Arthur snorted, taking off his satchel. “It’s not bottomless, it’s just spacious,” he grumbled, crouching down so Jack could pour his stones inside the open satchel.

“Sure, darling,” John agreed playfully. “You could fit half of the Blackwater in there and there would still be space for all the junk you carry with you.” John smiled because of the glare Arthur sent him.

“It’s not junk, those are some very important stuff,” he said grumpily and closed the satchel when Jack was done. He stood back to full height, gasping at the heaviness on his shoulder. “Jesus Christ, did you pick up the granite, kid?”

Jack giggled again, while John’s smile grew into a teasing grin. “What, too heavy for you but not for the little kid?” he asked. “Maybe you should throw away all the dead squirrels you have in there first.”

The offence on Arthur's face made John laugh. Jack laughed with him, not really sure what was funny but simply being happy. He was used to his father teasing each other and so he was seeing it as fun. “I swear to God, Marston, I'm gonna strangle you with the strap,” Arthur growled. 

John bit his lower lip to stop himself from laughing again. “Yeah, sure,” he nodded with amusement and turned to Jack. “Come on, little man,” he said as he lifted the boy in his arms. He waited for Arthur to mount Boaz and then put Jack in front of the alpha. “We gonna ride for a bit.”

“But I don’t have stones for everyone yet,” Jack complained, distressed.

“Don’t you worry, we’ll be back to the river in a moment,” Arthur calmed him, wrapping his arm around the boy’s middle while waiting for John to join them on a horse. “Just need to avoid the strong current.”

“Not enough stones?” John asked, surprised. “Boy, you had more stones there than there are people in West Elizabeth. Just ask Daddy, he has to carry al ofl that heavy load.”

“Very funny,” Arthur grumbled again. He didn’t change a bit since they were younger. He was always grumpy like an old man. That’s why John liked to tease him so much, even if it ended with him being chased through the camp or tied up to a tree when he was eventually caught.

“Stop being so sensitive, old man,” John told him, tugging at the reins lightly to turn Old Boy. The gelding went right and after a squeeze of John’s thighs to his sides, the horse climbed the rocks blocking the shore, his hoofbeats echoing in the small canyon, soon joined by Boaz’s when Javier’s horse followed with Arthur and Jack on his back.

“Said the pot to a kettle,” the alpha murmured.

They followed for a while on the hill and returned to the river once they could, right at the part where current slowed down significantly again and the shore widened. Jack ran towards the water the moment Arthur put him back on the ground and they continued their walk all the way to the Flat Iron Lake.

“Is this the sea?” Jack asked once he saw the huge body of water.

John ruffled his hair with a chuckle. “No, it’s just a lake,” he answered.

“It’s big,” the boy said in awe. “Look! There is a boat!”

“There is,” he confirmed and picked up his son, putting him on his shoulders. Jack shrieked in delight and John grimaced in pain, both from the loud sound and Jack’s fingers holding his hair tightly.

“Is it a ferry you and Uncle Dutch are going to steal?” he asked, swaying on John’s shoulder to see the ferry better. John was having a hard time keeping him upright.

“Maybe.” He honestly had no idea. He turned slightly to Arthur who was preparing a little fire for later. “Hey, Arthur! Pass us your binoculars, would you?!”

Arthur stood up and went to their saddles left near the horses that were resting in the shades of the trees. “Too lazy to get it yourself?” the alpha teased.

“I became an observational tower,” John explained and took the binoculars from Arthur, passing them to Jack. “Here you go. Take a closer look.”

A little clumsy, Jack put the binoculars to his eyes and gasped. “It’s so big now!”

John smiled at his son's enthusiasm and stood still, letting him enjoy the scenery a little while longer. Jack started looking around, twisting and turning to look at literally everything. John tried to accommodate him but it wasn’t always easy to keep up with him.

“Stop twisting so much or I’ll drop you,” he warned the boy.

“I’m sorry, Pa,” the boy apologized quickly and laughed.

“What?” John asked.

“Daddy looks so funny this big,” Jack explained and giggled.

“What is he doing?” He knew of course, he could see Arthur taking a seat near the horses, under another tree, and pulling out his journal from the satchel.

“Drawing.”

“Let’s get closer to him so he can see us better, huh?” he suggested. “Want me to teach you how to skip stones?”

“Yes!” Jack shouted, excited, which caught Arthur’s attention. John didn’t need binoculars to know his mate was smiling at them.

John walked closer to the alpha and put Jack on the ground. “First we need a nice flat stone,” John said and crouched, looking for the right one. Jack joined him, staring intensely at the ground. “This one should do it.” John put his hand in the shallow water and picked the flattest stone he could locate. He stood up with it and looked down at Jack. “You need to grab the stone with your thumb and pointing finger like this…” He demonstrated, smiling at the focus Jack was showing on his face. “And you throw it flat against the water using your wrist to rotate the stone. Like this.”

John pulled his arm back and threw the stone on the surface of the river. It skipped six times before sinking to the bottom, just before the second shore.

“I want to try too!” Jack exclaimed right after and got onto his knees to look for the right stone. He picked up one quickly and showed it to John. “Is this one okay, Pa?”

“Perfect,” he replied and helped Jack take the right position. “Grab the stone firmly, just like that. Remember to use your wrist, take a swing, and throw.”

Jack stuck his tongue out as he adjusted his position and then threw the stone that sank immediately due to the boy throwing it almost at the straight angle.

“It didn’t work,” he said sadly.

John patted him on the arm. “It takes time.” He crouched next to the boy and nudged at his chin to make him look up. “Hey, it took me a few days to learn. Don’t worry about it, you’ll learn too.”

“You think so?” the boy asked with hope.

“I know so,” John promised and took another stone, handing it to Jack. “Here, try again. Don’t throw it from up this time but much flatter so it can skip.”

“Okay, Pa!” the boy nodded eagerly and took the position once again.

Jack did better this time but the stone still sank the moment it reached the surface. But the boy didn’t give up and tried again, and again. John reminded him a couple of times how to skip stones properly and Jack watched, focused.

They spent at least a couple of minutes on this before Jack’s stone bounced from the surface once before sinking.

“You did it, Jack!” John praised him right away, pulled the boy with one arm for a hug.

“But it only skipped once,” he noticed sadly.

“It's still one more than before,” John pointed out and kissed his son’s head. “We’ll make a stone skipper out of you yet. You just need a little more practice. This morning you didn’t even know how to do this.”

“I guess.”

“Come one, let’s try again. You’re a Morgan. And a Marston. We’re stubborn bastards, we don’t give up that easily.”

Jack smiled at him and nodded.

It took a few more minutes of determination and some frustration but Jack’s stone eventually skipped two times. The boy cheered when it happened and threw himself at John, who caught him and twirled him around. “Good job, Jack!”

Jack laughed happily and turned to Arthur once John set him on the ground again.

“Daddy, did you see?!” he shouted. Arthur was already looking up from his journal, probably alarmed by all the cheering. “I know how to skip stones! It bounced two times!”

“I saw it, Jack,” Arthur answered proudly. “Good job, son.”

“Come skip stones with us!”

John smiled, already knowing the answer.

“No can do, Jack. I'm not good at this,” Arthur declined.

“It’s true,” John confirmed. “Your Daddy would only embarrass himself. He’s terrible at stone skipping.”

“Just because I didn’t have all days like you to stand on the shore of the lake or a river and practice,” Arthur answered, returning to his journal.

“I wouldn’t have to if you had taken me on rides with you,” John said back, watching as Jack picked up more stones and returned to the river to try again. “I had to do something while stuck in the camp.”

“Wasn’t going to take a twelve years old robbing folks on the road.”

“I could’ve managed,” John noticed, skipping a stone another six times. He wasn’t skilled with guns back then but he could’ve helped somehow. Dutch, Hosea and Arthur thought differently. 

“Or you would’ve got yourself killed.”

That was an option too, John wasn’t going to lie. He was a stupid kid.

After trying a few more times and always only making skip the stones two times, Jack got bored and left John to join Arthur under the tree. John skipped his last stone, making it to the other side of the river, and joined them as well. Jack already snuggled into Arthur’s side and looked inside his journal.

“What are you drawing, Pa?” John heard the boy ask. He sat on the other side of Arthur, picking up his satchel and pulling a piece of beef jerky from inside.

“Just my two favorite things in the world,” Arthur answered and tilted his journal so Jack could see the picture better. John cut the piece of jerky and put it in his mouth, chewing and watching Jack’s eyes grow big.

“That’s me and Pa!” he recognized in an excited voice.

“Yup,” Arthur confirmed with affection in his voice. He turned to look at John, who smiled at him.

“You’re so soft, Morgan,” he said with his mouth full and looked down at the picture that Arthur showed him, of him and Jack on the river bank skipping stones. His heart filled with warmth in a second and he wanted nothing more but to kiss Arthur senseless.

Arthur must’ve read his mind because when John was done chewing, the alpha leaned closer and placed a short kiss on his lips. It wasn’t exactly what John wanted, but that would have to do while Jack was with them.

They spend the whole day by the river. Jack ran around with horses a little, played with his toys he took with them and organized the stones he found, two of which were for Arthur and John, already safely tucked in the pockets of their vests.

While Jack played, John and Arthur caught some fish for dinner. Their son tried too, after they were already done and had more to eat than some cans they took with them. Arthur was cooking their dinner while John kept an eye on Jack in the river, trying to catch fish with his bare hands and failing but still having fun chasing them around in the shallow water. 

The sun was already setting when the dinner was finally ready.

“Here you go, son.” Arthur carefully handed Jack a tin bowl with fish, head already cut off and the belly split open. 

“Does it have bones?” Jack asked, concerned, looking up at his father.

“It has none, I personally picked every single one of them,” Arthur assured him with a small smile and ruffled his hair.

Jack smiled back and laid the bowl on his crossed legs. “Thank you, Daddy!” he said before digging in.

“And this fish is for you.” Jack looked up curiously as Arthur handed a second fish, still whole, to John.

John took it and pulled out a knife, sinking it in the fish’s belly and cutting it open. “Did you remove the bones as well?” he asked, smirking.

“You’re a goddamn adult, you can remove bones yourself,” Arthur replied, opening his own fish while John chuckled.

“See how your Daddy is to me, Jack?” Jack turned to his omega father and watched him. “Cruel.”

“Leave our son out of this,” Arthur protested, glaring at John.

Jack giggled. Happily picking up next pieces of fish and putting them in his mouth, he watched as his fathers continued arguing. “Hey, Jack, I’ll give you a candy if you side with me,” John offered and Jack immediately sat a little straighter at the mention of something sweet.

“That’s just bribery,” his mate grumbled, stuffing his mouth with fish meat and spitting a moment later when he found a bone in his bite.

Jack clearly wanted to nod eagerly to the offer but then he remembered something and sagged against John’s leg behind him. “Daddy says I can’t have sweets before sleep,” he explained with a dropped head, disappointed.

“Ha!” Arthur let out triumphally, not even looking at John, just picking up more bones from his fish.

“He didn’t say he won’t take it,” John pointed out after he swallowed the bite of his own dinner.

“Can I have it?” Jack asked hopefully, to Arthur’s disappointment.

John smirked at him briefly but then looked down at Jack again. “Daddy is right, Jack. When you eat sweets too late in the day you can’t fall asleep and just wriggle on the bed,” he explained, gently brushing Jack’s head.

“But I want candy,” he whined and pouted his lips.

John smiled and bent down to be closer to him. “Tell you what,” he said to Jack’s ear in a whisper. Arthur watched them fondly from the other side of Jack. “You’ll get one tomorrow. I bought some nice candies when I was in Blackwater yesterday.”

Jack grinned. Even though he would have to wait till tomorrow, which was a long time for him, he was happy that he would get a candy.

“Do I get one too?” Arthur asked suddenly.

John straightened up and looked at him with a smirk. “You’re an adult, Arthur, buy them yourself,” he answered and turned away with satisfaction while he was scowled at.

“Brat,” the alpha hissed, making him chuckle.

Jack didn’t stop grinning. He shifted closer to John who wrapped an arm around his chest right away, gently rubbing at it. If Jack could, he would purr right now but he was still too young.

They finished their dinner and Jack went back to playing in the light of the fire, because the sun already hid behind the horizon. But it was still rather early so John and Arthur weren’t in a rush to get back to camp. And Micah. They would soon but they wanted to enjoy the family time still. 

“Today wasn’t such a bad day after all,” Arthur noticed, stroking Jack’s hair as the boy laid heavily with his head resting against Arthur’s bent knee, already quite sleepy but refusing to stop playing with his toy horse.

“Apart from what Micah did,” John reminded him and spat in disgust. “Sonofabitch.”

“Leave it,” Arthur advised him. “Bastard got what he deserved. Let’s just hope he stays away from Jack.”

“Yeah,” John agreed. Getting angry would only ruin his good mood but it wasn’t going to make Micah suffer more. What was important was that Jack was safe and nothing happened. He looked down at their son from his place next to Arthur, the boy barely keeping his eyes open. John smiled at the sight. “We should do it more often.”

“What?”

“Go out with Jack,” he clarified. “He must be tired being stuck at camp all the time.”

“You are, ain’t you, boy?” Arthur asked.

Jack nodded and yawned, making his fathers chuckle.

“We’re always so busy but once we’re done with our jobs, we’ll spend more time with you,” John promised, taking Jack’s toy horse out of his hand. “I think it’s time to get you back to camp and to bed.”

“Nooo,” the boy protested weakly, hugging Arthur’s leg when he tried to get up. “Don’t want this day to end.”

“Sorry, buddy, but every day ends eventually,” Arthur said.

“I want to spend more time with you,” Jack explained, his voice dripping with saddens.

John's heart broke a little and he looked at Arthur. “Just till he falls asleep,” he suggested and the alpha nodded, getting comfortable again.

Jack smiled and with a yawn, he hugged Arthur’s leg tighter, already half asleep. It wouldn’t take long for him to fall asleep completely.

John leaned against Arthur and they both watched their son dozing off. The alpha turned his head and kissed John’s temple, his nose sniffing in the air right above the skin. “You smell like heat,” he noticed with a pleasant purr.

John felt his body responding, a pool of heat growing in his abdomen. “My fertility period is near,” he answered in a whisper. “It should start in three days. Think Dutch will let us leave the camp for some fun?”

Fertility periods were weaker than heats but lasted longer, up to five days each month between the next heats. They were easy to ignore or miss but John always made sure he knew when they would arrive so they wouldn’t get another surprise like Jack. He was a consequence of a heat, which was an easier way to conceive but they didn’t want to take any risk. Not yet but later it wouldn’t even be a risk. 

“A day before your big heist?” Arthur nuzzled his cheek, affected by the smell of his mate. “I doubt it.”

“Then we’ll sneak out,” John decided and turned his head to catch Arthur’s mouth in a kiss. “I miss you,” he purred, keeping his voice low to not wake up Jack.

“You have me,” Arthur answered with a smile against his lips.

“I miss your dick then,” he corrected himself.

Arthur’s chuckle resonated deep in his chest. “So vulgar.”

John grinned. “You never complained before.”

“True.”

They kissed for a while longer, never getting too far when Jack was still practically in Arthur’s lap. When they satisfied their needs that suffered from their job just as Jack, they stood up, careful to not wake up their son. The boy was sleeping so deep though they doubted even a shot from a canon would wake him.

Arthur held him in his arms while John prepared the horses. The alpha handed him the boy once he mounted and after Arthur did so too, they rode back towards the camp, Jack sleeping soundly in the saddle in front of John. 

Mac on the guard duty welcomed them, just like those of the gang members that weren’t asleep yet. Most of them were sitting by the fire and having some fun. John and Arthur dismounted, Jack woke up then.

“Are we home?” he asked, rubbing at his sleepy eyes while in John’s arms.

“Yeah, baby, we’re home,” John answered quietly, kissing the side of the boy’s head. “We’re going to bed now.”

“Can I give uncle Dutch his diamond first?”

Jack didn’t find gold but he found a diamond. Or rather some mineral that for him looked like a diamond. He was very proud of his find.

“If he’s not asleep.”

But Dutch was awake, sitting in front of his tent with Molly, his gramophone playing softly.

“Good evening, boys,” he greeted them. Molly only nodded at them, brushing her hair before sleep.

“Evening, Dutch,” Arthur answered and pointed at Jack with his chin. “Jack has a gift for you.”

“Does he?” he asked and smiled.

Jack yawned, too asleep to even stand on his own so John kept holding him. “I found a diamond, uncle Dutch,” he slurred, looking at Dutch through half lidded eyes. “So Daddy and Pa don’t have to work and can spend time with me.”

Dutch smiled fondly at him. “That's very nice of you, Jack,” he responded and stood up from his chair. “A diamond you say? That’s really impressive, son.”

“Daddy has it.”

“Somewhere,” Arthur noticed and started looking through his satchel, the bunch of stones in there rattling with every move of his hand. When he pulled a fist full of stones, Dutch chuckled.

“You robbed a quarry, boys?” he asked, amused.

Arthur glared at him and carefully picked up the mineral from between the stones and handed it to Dutch. “Here’s your diamond, Dutch. It was supposed to be gold first.”

“Gold, diamond, doesn’t matter,” he assured and looked at the mineral like he would at a real diamond. “Look at this. I don’t think you brought anything even half as expensive as this lately, boys. That’s a mighty fine diamond, Jack.”

“I found it myself in the river,” the boy explained, yawning again.

“You’ll be a good outlaw one day, Jack,” Dutch told him. John knew it was just a joke but he felt uncomfortable with the idea of Dutch teaching Jack how to be an outlaw, just like he taught them. They didn’t want the same future for their son. Dutch didn’t notice his discomfort and continued. “I think it needs to be placed in the box, what do you think?” he asked Jack, stroking the boy’s head gently.

“Can I do it myself like Pa and Daddy?”

“Of course.”

They moved behind Dutch’s tent where the box was standing in its usual place. Dutch gave the ‘diamond’ to Jack and opened the box. Barely lifting his hand, the boy put his find with all the money and other valuables the gang members brought over the last few days.

“Your first contribution, Jack,” John declared proudly. Jack smiled into his neck and the very next second he was out cold.

“We better take him to bed finally,” Arthur suggested.

Dutch nodded. “It was a very exciting day for him. You sleep too, boys. Can’t imagine how tiring it was for you.”

Now that Dutch mentioned it, John felt tired and sleepy. He wouldn’t mind going to bed with Jack.

“We will,” Arthur assured. “Good night, Dutch.”

“Good night, boys.”

“I’ll take care of the horses,” Arthur said when they left Dutch. “You put him to bed.”

“Okay.”

They parted their ways. John passed next to the fire and said goodnight to his friend. Micah was among them, his nose covered with bandages. The bastard didn’t even dare to look into his direction. Good.

John entered their tent and closed the flaps behind them, covering the inside with darkness. Thankfully he knew where the bed was so he laid Jack there before lighting up the lantern. He then noticed a picture laying on the bed next to his son. A picture Jack tried to show him earlier that day but John was too busy talking to Dutch to properly look at it.

He picked it up and did it now, smiling at the messy drawing of Old Boy and Boadicea. Poor mare had to be shot after she broke her leg, there was nothing they could do. Giving a mercy shot was hard for Arthur. Bo looking at him in those last moments were still haunting him in his dreams and even during the day. It was probably the reason why he didn’t get himself a new horse yet.

“Hey.” John turned to the entrance when he heard Arthur’s voice. “Thought you would be in bed by now,” he noticed and pointed at the drawing. “What you got there?”

“Jack’s drawing.” Arthur stepped closer to look at it. John watched him, how his Adam’s apple jumped as he gulped, or how his eyes got a bit teary seeing his trusty mare standing next to Old Boy and their foal. It wasn’t the first picture like this that Jack drew but now it was hitting Arthur much harder than ever.

“It’s beautiful,” he said, gently taking the paper from John.

“He got the talent after you.”

“Obviously, he draws better than you.”

John huffed but leaned closer and kissed Arthur’s stubbled cheek while wiping the tear from the corner of his eye. “Asshole.”

“Yeah, I heard that already.”

“And I’ll keep calling you that till you stop being one.” John kissed him again, this time on the lips. “Put the drawing with the rest of them and let’s go to bed.”

Arthur hummed in agreement. He put the picture away, helped John undress Jack and then they did the same before laying on both sides of their son like always. Jack snuggled into who was in front of him, which was Arthur, and relaxed in his sleep. John and Arthur hugged him and each other, soon joining him, leaving the day and it’s horror behind, keeping only the time at the river.

**Author's Note:**

> It was kind of fun to write Micah in this one. I like his manipulative side but I'll have even more fun writing him getting his jaw broken by certain furious fathers.
> 
> Tbh, I'm mostly wiriting this because I need daddy Morston in my life.


End file.
